


Save the Mons

by Sephypsycologist



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Soft Vore, Vore, safe vore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-24 11:08:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17099456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sephypsycologist/pseuds/Sephypsycologist
Summary: Monsters are mysterious, but you're going to save them all! Hopefully





	1. Shark in the Water

You were glad you didn’t get motion sick easily.

Life on the sea was a little hard, but you were so excited to learn about and interact with monsters up close. The massive jelly molds that would squelch up onto the deck in rough waves were as big as your leg, but surprisingly friendly and gentle. It was easy enough to coax them back into the waters, though you never got too close to the edge of the boat.

Not all sea monsters were so nice, but you loved the jellies. It was fun to sprinkle some nutrient flakes onto the smaller ones and see them wiggle in excitement.

You were doing that, actually, when the alarm went up. Something dark and putrid smelling was grabbed onto the boat, and you felt yourself start to panic. The jelly gurgled in alarm and leaped back into the water to get away from the larger monster, but you had no such escape.

Gagging from the smell, you put your shirt over your face and try to grab your repulser gun, a large taser for the more aggressive types, but it slips from your hand as a large skeletal monster shoves the dark thing aside. It glares at your boat, but then pushes it away and waves off to the side, clearly a “get out of here’ motion. Your crew doesn’t need telling twice; none of you want to be grabbed off the side and pulled into the depths.

You’d never seen the skeleton before, but you’d heard rumors from sailors on the shore. Some of the ‘mermaids’ were friendly, almost dolphin like in their loyalty to a boat that showed them kindness, and some were violent and destructive, breaking ships to pieces as they bared their sharp fangs. But at thirty feet long, or thereabouts, these monsters were always powerful and thus high on the list for poachers.

Poachers…the thought left a sour taste in your throat. Humans who tried and often succeeded in catching and killing monsters. They kept the jellies to sell as pets or milk for magic slime, or killed any other smaller monsters for their dust, all of it used in bizarre medicines. Some worked, since magic could instantly heal in the right circumstances, and some didn’t, and instead ended up making the condition worse from the spite of the murdered monster.

Either way, it was illegal in almost every country to sell or kill monsters, since they were rare and at least semi-intelligent. You made sure to be extra nice to the next jelly you interacted with just to reassure yourself they weren’t going to be hurt. Poor sweet jellies.

—

As usual, you had your seat in the cabin while you pulled up toward the poacher ship, having already fired the warning flare and the captain having called over the bullhorn that they were being boarded and arrested for international crimes of monster hunting.

They had…oh geeze, it was the mer from before. He’s biting at the net, his sharp teeth slowly fraying the ropes, but there’s a lot of poachers trying to get him on the deck so they can take off to escape your crew.

There’s no time, though. You’re all on board and the burlier men have secured the poachers as the rest of you get to work freeing the mer. He thrashes and fights, hostile to everyone’s efforts, and your crewmate gets bitten badly on the wrist, nearly losing his hand rather than the chunk out of his skin. You’re on top of the net, trying to cut through the holding ropes from above where the heavy creature can’t reach you, but there’s a creaking of metal that makes everyone freeze.

Looking up, you all see the crane holding the mer has bent to a terrifying degree, and you hear your own scream as the metal snaps, sending you and the trapped skeleton down into the water.

The confusion of bubbles keeps you still as your arm instinctively continues sawing at the ropes. You know his weight and the fact your foot is caught in the ropes is going to doom you, but you aren’t going to let him die with you. He didn’t ask for this, and you volunteered, knowing the risks.

You feel a lift in your spirits as the ropes finally break, and you see the mer’s bright red tail flash away into the darkness around you. There’s no hope of surfacing, not this far down, and you feel your chest start to burn with the need for air. You saved him. At least the poachers didn’t win.

—

Gasping for air, your return to reality is jarring. Your back hurts, and you’re coughing up sea water as your crew babbles.

“Thank God, kid, at least he was thankful!”

“Never seen a monster throw a human BACK before.”

“Must have realized she’d saved him.”

“What a story!”

“You okay, S/O?”

You nod, glad to be alive, and smiling like an idiot. He’d saved you in return. You two were even now, and you hoped he found a happy life out in the sea.

–

Your savior is spotted again, a few days later, watching your boat as you’re anchored for some observation of a group of crustacean-like monsters on a cluster of sea rocks.

When you shine your light out toward the bright red glow of his eye (just one? oh dear) he ducks back down, but you see the red still there, just below the surface.

Now that you know what to look for, your crew realizes he’s following you, and you even catch him struggling to catch a few of the fish feeding from your compost.

After a discussion, the crew tries dumping a bit of chum into the water for him, but it does no good. He glares at the food and instead tries, and fails, to catch the sharks and fish that come to the meat.

“He must have been more injured than we thought,” The captain muses, watching your monster frustratedly trying to grab a sea gull from the water. “When he gets weak enough, we’ll have to bring him on board to treat his wounds. Get the whale pool ready.”

The crew obeys, and you keep watching, your heart aching for this creature who had saved your life.

–

The mer was captured while you were sleeping one night. You woke up to loud hissing and growls from the holding pools, and it absolutely panicked you. Rushing down there in your pajamas, you saw the boys backing away from the angry, clearly injured mer.

His head had a massive hole cracked in the left side of it, and his right eye was empty of light despite the huge red circle glowing in his other socket. He had a gold fang on the left side of his mouth, and bared all his teeth at anybody who got close, but his eye light was fixed on you. Your gaze, however, was more worried about the large gash in the side of him, his magic oozing black from the wound.

“Stay back, man, he’s hopping mad at us for getting him in here,” cautioned the deck hands, and you nod, sadly going back to your room. He’d been so hurt, but still he saved you. You hope once he calms down, he’ll eat and heal.

–

He refuses any food, and your crew has tried the lot over the three days since the mer was captured. He laughs, cackling madly and giggling quietly in the night, creeping out everyone on board, but he never looks happy. The crew are all wary of him, since he growls and snaps at anybody trying to come near.

Now, having been so long without food, he’s beginning to wane, his magic loss slowing his responses and leaving his bones dull and easily scratched. The rest of your team is tutting about what a shame it is such a majestic creature, who had even saved your life, was going to die slowly.

You weren’t about to let that happen.

Heading to the kitchen, you clean your hands, put on gloves and begin preparing some fish. You have a plan, and it’ll take a lot of nutrient powder stuffed into fish

Prepared and determined, you took your bucket of fish into the holding pens and got a weak hiss from him, as well as a tired chuckle. You smile warmly at him, “Hey, big guy. I know, you’re mad and exhausted and trapped. Not fun, especially since you seem to be sick, too.”

His brow bone rose just a bit, and he hissed more as you edged closer. “Yeah, I’m some weird human, and you and me are even, so you don’t owe me anything. You’re good, though. I won’t hurt you.”

A look akin to panic is on the mer’s face as you keep coming, and he begins curling up and retreating to the back of the pool, either cackling or growling all the while.

You get close enough and hold out one of your prepped fish, “Here. I put some good stuff in it to help you heal.”

He glares at you and snaps his teeth a few times. When that doesn’t make you leave, he slaps the fish out of your hand. It hurts, but you hide the pain and just get another fish.

Confused, he whines softly, and you hear his stomach rumble loudly. You hadn’t run like the others, and now it was just you and him, staring at each other. Even though he isn’t looking at the fish, the mer begins to leak black drool through his clenched fangs, eye light fixed on you.

A few of the night crew are watching from above, and they start yelling, “Get back, S/O! He wants to eat YOU!”

That was something you were aware could happen. You knew what you were doing. He’s close now, within reach, and as he opens his mouth wide, you lunge forward first. The fish in your hand is shoved in and down his throat, your shoulder against the stunned monster’s teeth with how far you jammed your arm in. False muscle rolled around your arm, taking the fish from your loose grip and tugging insistently at your hand, as if begging you to follow.

Knowing better, you instead take advantage of the stunned silence and pull your arm back out before the mer can recover and bite it off. He recovered quickly, even as you grabbed another fish, and started gagging to try and get rid of your gift. However, this gives you another opportunity, and you take it, once again going shoulder deep into his mouth to deposit another high nutrient fish deep in his gullet.

This time, when you withdraw and back away, he giggles as tears form at the corners of his sockets, but attacks the bucket of fish and devours the rest. The barely colored membrane of magic over his upper belly turns opaque, and you beam. He got food into himself, and now he’ll at least start to heal.

You aren’t off the hook, though. The captain, the first mate, your direct superior, all of them are horrified and angry at your stunt. You could have been killed, they say, and you nod contritely. That wasn’t your plan, but it was something you’d thought about. But the rest of the crew, as soon as you’d been docked a week’s pay for recklessness, congratulate you and admire your bravery.

When you lay in your bed afterward, you cry. The adrenaline had kept you going, but now you’re alone and shaking like a leaf. He could have ripped you to pieces, or swallowed you whole, without a thought. He very nearly did, if you hadn’t been quick enough. But he’ll live now, and you try to rest with that as a comfort.

–

The head biologist is irritated at you now. Instead of her being the one to save the mer, it is you, and he will only allow YOU to feed him now.

His laughter changes from manic to pleased when you come in, and he lays in the shallow end of the pool, mouth open wide as you toss nutrient fish from a distance. Sometimes he doesn’t open his mouth for a bit, instead staring at you, his smile tilted disturbingly as he drools black. It makes you scared, but you know it’s in his best interest to keep feeding him if he wants you to.

It becomes a routine. In the morning, you get up, eat breakfast, then get your fish bucket and go feed the mer. He’ll purr or trill when you come in, and every so often a delighted giggle comes from him as you toss fish. You’ve been taken off all the ‘important’ parts of work as punishment for the first feeding, so you instead stay and try to teach the mer to speak.

You have some basic tools pulled up on your phone, and you also bring objects from your room (or donated by other crew members who sometimes watch from above). You tell him what they are, how they work, and what they’re used for. Wrenches, shoes, plushies, all sorts of things to show him how humans lived.

There wasn’t much response, really, but his eye light was bright and his wounded side was healing up, the magic from it turning red instead of the sickly black it had been. Once he began to heal, the others worried about releasing him, and how best to do it. You just stayed with the mer, listening to his soft laughter and happy trills as you read to him from some of your books.

A month of this left him trusting of you, and somewhat of your fellow crew. It was clear he preferred you in all things, but the others had earned a playful response of occasional splashes from his tail. You scolded him for that, of course, but there was no heat in your words, and you instead got a self satisfied look from him.

You were reading to him, as always, one afternoon, and heard a splashing noise. Figuring he was irritating someone nearby, you kept reading, sort of lost in the narrative. At least you were until warm air ruffled your hair and water began to drip on the pages before you.

Gasping, you looked up and backed into the wall behind you, amazed. The mer had pulled himself out of the water and over to you, looking at you curiously. His hands very gently touched your hair as he began to coo nonsense syllables, expression thoughtful as he examined you.

Heart racing, still as a statue, your body was open to his searching, massive fingers gentle as he felt the bones in your legs and arms tenderly. The surface of his own phalanges were smoothing out from how spongy they’d been before when he’d been sick and malnourished. A ripple of goosebumps went over your scalp after a moment of his soft touching, and you were about to speak when the far door to the pool opened.

Startled, he yelped and dove back into the pool, glaring at the newcomer as you blinked in surprise. You were wet, of course, from him touching you and dripping on you, but all over warm.

“Uh, you okay, S/O? Why’s there water everywhere?” the navigator asked you as he helped you up.

“He, uh…splashed at me,” you mutter, getting a sympathetic nod. You weren’t going to get the mer in trouble for his curiosity.

–

After that, he’d slip out more often, getting close to you and reverently touching your skin or hands when he could. His language also improved by miles, going from babbling to actual words. He told you his name was Pepper, and that he loved fish, and that you were a good human and he hated bad humans.

You were more than happy to agree with that sentiment.

He let you examine the wound in his head, one night, and you asked, “How come this isn’t healing?”

“Old,” he rumbled softly. “had it for long time…..makes me laugh all day. hahaha.”

“Ah, so it’s not because you think everything’s funny,” You tease gently, and he purrs.

“humans are funny. but no. laugh happens when ‘m scared, or mad, or upset,” he sighed.

“Oh Pepper…” you murmur, “is that why you were cackling so much when we first got you in here?”

“mmhm,” he nuzzled against your leg, waving his tail in the pool. “scared. trapped. bad time. heeheeheehee.”

You sigh and rub his hand with yours, “Poor Pepper. Well, I’m glad we made friends so you don’t have to be scared anymore. But you are going to have to leave soon. Your side is healed up and you’re strong and healthy now. You don’t need us anymore.”

“noooooo,” he nudges you with his skull, almost knocking you over. “i’m staying.”

“No, you’re going back to the ocean,” you insist, but you nuzzle his fingers to make sure he knows you still care, “because you belong there.”

He whines, but doesn’t move. He’s a lazy fish, and you’ve noticed it more and more as he becomes healthier. Even if he was upset with you, he wouldn’t move simply to avoid the effort.

“And also because it’s hard for us to feed you.” You want to be honest with him. “We’ve already given you all the stores we had in case of emergency, so now we’re catching extra fish. You’re kind of a bottomless pit, you know.”

Pepper gives you a cheeky grin and purrs more.

–

As much as he didn’t want to go, the crew dumps Pepper back in the ocean. He does not leave, however, as you hear his laughing echoing over the water, and spot his glowing eye under the waves. There’s not much communication, though, because he’s mad at you now for releasing him.

At least until a week later when he somehow shows up in the capture pool, scaring half the crew and genuinely laughing his head off about it because he liked it.

You still aren’t sure how he does it, but Pepper shows up there at least an hour a day and refuses to leave until you read to him. Since it was one of your favorite things about your budding friendship with him, you didn’t mind complying.

It was during a time where Pepper was off hunting that your boat was attacked by poachers. They weren’t very strong, but two of your crew fell into the water and were sucked under.

It was a horrible feeling, knowing your friends had probably been drowned, and you went down to the holding pool just in hopes of seeing Pepper. He always did his best to make you happy.

There he was, but at the sight of your dejected face, he asked, “what’s wrong?”

“W-we….were attacked and…*sniff* John and Steve fell overboard and disappeared,” you wiped your face as the tears start again.

His grin widens and he coos, “i can fix that.”

You’re understandably confused, but then he hauls himself out of the water until his stomach is visible. It’s bloated and wriggling, but you can hear muffled cursing. The realization hits you just as the membrane vanishes and John and Steve spill out on the floor. “there. all safe~”

John and Steve are very scared and worried, but you don’t care. They’re ALIVE and Pepper had saved them, “Oh stars, Pepper, thank you! You saved them! Thank you thank you thank you!” Kissing his skull over and over, you felt his cheekbones warm and heard the deep, thrumming purr as he lay there, basking in your praise and affection. You owed him so much now, for saving your friends, and it seems he’s more than happy to accept your gratitude.


	2. Poachers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe there's more than just the monsters to worry about

After he saved your crewmates, Pepper began to bring things to you. First it was pretty seashells (sometimes complete with original occupant!), then glittering stones, then items you recognized as being from sunken ships. And he also brought you fish.

Big fish.

But since you kept saying you’d take them to the chef and share them with the crew, he stopped letting you have them. He’d show them to you, and if you asked to take it to be prepared, he’d huff and swallow it himself. It was particularly strange when he did this with several rather large sharks in a row.

Asking about this, he sighed, “i’m trying to feed you. it’s what we do for people we like.”

Flattered, you gently reply, “Humans don’t eat raw fish, Pepper. And even if we did, with how big the ones you bring me are, I could never eat it all before it spoiled, so I’d need to share it anyway.”

Nodding, he lay back in the water and pouted, looking silly with his belly full and sticking out with all the shark inside it. You laughed, and he rolled his eye before smiling.

—

Pepper is also the protector of your whole ship. Even if he explicitly said, “i’m staying for you,” you appreciate that he keeps the rest of the ship safe, too.

No more aggressive monsters come near your ship, since Pepper is always circling it, and when he hears of your love for the little jellies, he brings you a few that needed help anyway. He sits in the pool while you treat and feed the jellies, seeming pleased with himself and you.

But the thing he did that left you puzzled and disturbed was his…display. Anytime someone fell overboard, they’d vanish into the water, but Pepper would always have them tucked away inside him by the time you went down to the pool. He’d make sure you saw them wriggling in there before letting them loose, and the others were quite fed up with it.

“Tell your fish to stop eating people. It’s gross!”

“I had to use all my shampoo just to get his slime out of my hair!”

You really didn’t know why he did this instead of throwing them back on the deck like he’d done to you.

–

Over the weeks together, Pepper’s coos and trills quickly turned into happy “hello”s and “welcome back”s.

His English was soon fluent enough that he would tell you stories. Dramatic hunts, goofy antics with his friends, that one irritating monster that nobody liked, just anything he could think of to return the favor of you reading to him.

You were waiting for him to come back from some sort of family business when something slammed into the ship. Before you could even react, everyone was yelling and you were scrambling to get on deck.

Someone yanked your arm behind your back and smacked you over the head, and the world was gone.

Dreams of water, and the scent of chalk, were all you had until you opened your eyes to a nightmare.

Around you were monsters in tanks, several jellies, a few isopod-like monsters, and a small sea-bird with its wings clipped shoddily, still dripping magic. But the worst was in front of you, a table coated with spatters of color and a fine coating of sparkling dust.

You turned to the side and vomited.

You were on a poaching ship, in their kill room.

“My word, you must have a sensitive stomach to lose it so easily,” came a sarcastic voice. A disheveled, dirty man walked from somewhere behind her and grinned, “Or maybe it’s the fact you’re a miserable monster lover. Welcome to your new life, girl. You’re our pawn, and this is where we’re going to keep you so you can learn what aught to be done with these nuisances.”

He laughed, rattling the bird’s tank and making it squawk in fear. “They’re only good for making money, and as soon as we get back to port, we’re selling them and you to the highest bidder.”

Everything seemed to swim before you, and you shivered when he yanked you up, “But first, let’s introduce you to the crew. I’m sure they’ll have some fun.”

That’s when something rocked the ship, and you saw razor sharp teeth rip into the hull around you. The man dragged you up and into a cabin, locking the door behind the two of you, “Dang it, this is your doing. Don’t think I didn’t see your pet mer.”

He pulls you back into a corner and throws you against the wall, painfully. “I swear, if we sink, I’m taking you down with me. You gotta be some kind of witch if you got one of THEM following you around.”

You’re starting to cry as the sound of metal twisting and people screaming becomes louder, and water starts seeping under the door. “Oh, you scared, witch? You better be.”

The man punches you, and you barely get your arms up in time to keep him from hitting your face. Still, he doesn’t stop, so you’re being battered in the corner as he curses at you and blames you for the ship going down.

Screeching through, a hole is torn in the side of the room and a skeletal dragon peers in. Its glowing red eyes fix on you, and then it vanishes. You’d never thought the dragons were real, but now that they are, you’re even more terrified. No ship attacked by the dragons survived.

An arm comes through the hole and catches the dirty man around the waist, pulling him out into the water that’s filling up your cabin.

–

You’re going to drown in here. The screaming is gone, as is the metal ripping, but you’re in a slowly filling air pocket.

Just then, a very familiar skull pokes in and you scream in relief, “PEPPER!”

“hey there, doll,” he happily replies and squeezes in up to his hips, but he can’t get farther. “ugh, ‘m stuck. c’mere, hon, and we’ll get outta here and back to the ship.”

“I c-can’t!” You sob, curled in your corner, “We’re too deep a-and I don’t w-w-want you to…i’m afraid you’re gonna kill me. I’m sc-scared!”

“babe,” Pepper struggles, but can’t get further in, “i’d never hurt you. ever. ahhaha, ugh, you saved my life, twice.”

“B-but…” you can’t get over the image of him proudly showing off the crew inside him when he’d ‘rescue’ them. It was horrifying.

“after all you did for me, after all the crew did, sharin’ yer food, hahah, healin’ me, making me eat when i was bein’ paranoid….i’d never betray ya like that, not for anything,” His arm was just beyond you, fingers straining as the water still trickled in around him, “S/O please….you’re the world ta me, an’ this reinforced hull is, heheheheheh, mngh! is not lettin’ me get closer.”

“I…what?” The world? to him?

“dang it,” he growled a bit, but his face was desperate, “has it not been obvious? babe, i’m in love with you. you risked everything just ta save me from starvin’ and took the time to teach me to talk like you. you cared when ya didn’t have ta and i just want to show you how much that meant. hahaha, hahahaaha….oh geeze, we don’t have time. just trust me, this one time. please.”

Pepper’s eye light was small and shaky, looking you over as his mouth twisted into a pained grimace, straining to get hold of you though he couldn’t get through. You shook, terrified, everything having gone too fast for you to process but…you knew he was being honest. Your lazy Pepper wouldn’t try so hard, struggle so much, to reach you if he didn’t honestly feel you were irreplaceable to him.

The moment you wrapped your shaking hand around his finger, Pepper pulled you close and held you gently against his sternum, nuzzling your head and cooing like he used to, before words. It hit you that he’d loved you even then, seeking you out and staring unblinkingly with amazed adoration.

“just close your eyes and think about sunshine, okay? hahaha, i love you so much,” his voice rumbled in his chest, deep and tender, and you did as he asked.

Though you could feel the heat of his breath, the damp of his tongue under you his razor teeth never touched your skin. The same insistent pull you’d felt on your arms the first time you’d fed him was then all around you, speeding you downward with a thick gulp. It was tight, but soon you were out and laying on your back with your legs curled tight against herself.

Movement, and you tried very hard to think about the way sunlight looks through the water. The wavering and shivering beams that filter down to glitter on the sand. But your thoughts came to the present, and here, as you heard Pepper sigh in relief and begin to purr happily. That was more of a comfort than the sun, and you slowly let yourself relax and uncurl.

“Um, Pepper?” you called at last, earning a hum to say he was listening, “Did you pull that dirty guy away from me?”

“eh, hahaha, nope. that’d be my brother, chief. he came, heehee, came back to the ship with me ta meetcha, but the crew said what happened. was as easy as swimmin’ to follow your soul after that. both’a our blasters made quick work’a that ship.”

Ah, that was interesting. “So those dragons are called blasters?”

“yep. ahahaha, bro loves use’n those on poachers. he’ll make sure none’a them escape. you’re safe,” you felt his arms press gently on you from outside. “just wish i could’a held ya like this without it being life’r death…us mers do this for affection but this…nah, no good.”

You dare to open your eyes, and you just see red. Of course, being filled, his belly had turned opaque, but it was soft, warm, and easy to breath in. You could hear the water outside, and a soft thrumming like a pulse from above. Curious you reach upward and touch the wall, earning a soft shudder and nervous giggle from Pepper. “you okay, babe?”

“Yeah…yeah, it’s actually okay in here,” you say softly, slightly in shock from all that had happened to you today. “maybe…we could do this again…later.”

“you’d do that? hahaha, for real?” he sounded so hopeful.

“Yeah.” Your fingers find a spot that connects with the thrumming, and you smile as it quickens. “I’d be happy to. I have to say, I love you, too. My lazy fishie….”

The laughter you hear in response is relieved, elated, and genuine. You love to hear him laugh.


End file.
